Hot has been used in the sense of ‘spicy, biting’ since 1540.
Hot has been used in the sense of sexually attractive since as early as the beginning of the 16th century.
Hot flushes have been described since 1887.
Hot stuff, principally American English, has been used since 1889.
The hot seat has been occupied since 1933.
Hot potato, used in the figurative sense, has been in use since 1846.
Hot cakes have been used as a description of something selling well since 1839; although ‘hot cake’ had been in use for 150 years prior to that when it was used to describe – well, hot cake.
Nobody was hot and bothered until 1921.
Yet hot under the collar is first recorded in 1895.
Hot dogs have been eaten since 1886 as hot dogs, although the concept was described 14 years earlier. Originally the hot dog was simply the sausage – which is why there are early references (from 1901) to the hot dog sandwich and even simply the sausage sandwich. Prior to the edible hot dog, it was used to describe a heated bolt used in engineering.
Hot dog as an exclamation of how rather excellent something was comes from 1896.
People have been in hot water in the figurative sense since the 1530s. Weirdly, nobody used the term of ‘hot water’ in the literal sense prior to about 1400.
Hot water bottles are first described in 1813.
Hot spots, as in a dangerous situation, is seen from 1838 – as in a skin irritation from the following year – as a nightclub from 1931 – in firefighting from 1938 – and as a place of conflict from 1941.
Hot rods, American English for a vehicle, is seen from 1945.
Hot foot or ‘hastily’ is seen from 1300.
Red hot meaning ‘lively, passionate’ from 1600 – red hot momma, American English once again, is used to described an earthy female singer from 1926.
Hotwire, to start a vehicle bypassing the ignition, dates from 1966, although the term was used to refer to electrical wires from 1889.
Hot pants were worn from 1970 – but the phrase had been used as early as 1927 when it described sexual arousal.
White hot has been used since 1820.
Hot-blooded meaning ‘passionate’ has been in use since 1590.
Hot air or ‘boastful talk’ is first seen in print in 1900 – some 87 years after hot-air ballooning is first described.
Hotbed was originally a bed for plants where heat was generated by fermenting manure – this described since the 1620s.
An important person has been described as a hot shot since 1933, for ten years prior to that it referred to a fast train, and since 1600 the meaning was rather different in describing ‘a foolish or reckless individual’.
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